Photo: Brant Smith Photography

You’ve planned every single detail, but there’s always one thing about a wedding that you can’t control: Your guests. From telling them what to wear to letting them know when to arrive, all you can really do is hope they’ll read your website! That goes for your unplugged ceremony, too. Even with your officiant asking guests to silence their phones before your unplugged ceremony, there’s a chance someone wasn’t listening. If a cell phone rings during the proceedings, what’s a couple to do? Our experts break it down for you.

If someone’s phone rings during your wedding ceremony and they’re able to quickly silence it, proceed as if nothing happened. Your officiant may pause briefly to regain everyone’s attention, or begin their sentence again, but you shouldn’t need to address the interruption in any way. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll be so enthralled in the moment that you won’t even notice the slight interruption!

Of course, there are a few other scenarios that are less easy to deal with. If the phone rings again, your guest may step away from the ceremony to take the call (especially if he or she is a doctor or has kids at home with a babysitter). Hopefully they’ll do so quickly and quietly, so it won’t be too distracting. Your officiant may pause and ask guests to confirm that their phones are off before you proceed — especially if you haven’t gotten to your vows yet. There could also be a little bustle amongst your guests as they check to make sure their phones won’t cause the same interruption, but it will be short-lived.

The moment to be wary of is if a phone rings during your vows or a reading. If the interruption flusters you, ask your officiant to start over, or to repeat the phrase you were in the middle of. It’s hard enough repeating an entire sentence, without buzzing or jingles disrupting your flow! And if you’ve got a friend or family member doing a reading, they can heed the same advice and either start the sentence over, or if it’s a particularly moving passage, start the section over again so the gravity and meaning isn’t lost.

Source: Bride